PACE Autumn Session Update. Part 1: Khodorkovsky “is a Typical Political Prisoner”
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) concluded its autumn session in Strasbourg on Thursday. PACE works to achieve greater unity among its members through common action, agreements and debates and this session included significant debates on both Russia (Honouring of commitments by the Russian Federation, 1-5 October) and political prisoners (The definition of political prisoners.) The final resolution on Russia was passed with 161 in favour, 41 against and 7 abstentions.
During the debate, the co-author of the report, Gyorgy Frunda from Romania referred to the case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky (see the video of his speech below). Outlining the issue that Russia’s judiciary often bases its decisions on political motivations, Frunda stated “An example is Mr Khodorkovsky, whom we met in prison in Moscow and who was sentenced in December 2010 to serve an additional six years. In my eyes, he is a typical political prisoner.”
Kimmo Sasi (Finland) and John Paul Phelan (Ireland), also mentioned the Khodorkovsky case, as well as that of Sergei Magnitsky, while speaking on the fragile state of the rule of law in Russia today. Meanwhile, Maryvonne Blondin (France), in her comments on the treatment of Pussy Riot, noted that the band was tried in the same court room as Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
The newly passed resolution obligates Russia to the complete fulfilment of all previous relevant resolutions and statements, and not only those specifically mentioned in the text. This was a result of an amendment to paragraph 25 of the text, which included the explanatory amendment that: ‘all Russia’s commitments, reflected in Opinion 193 (1996) of the Assembly and in its subsequent resolutions, have an equal status and should be monitored by the Assembly until their full implementation.’ The amendment was adopted with 142 in favour, 31 against and 5 abstentions.
The resolution also mentioned Vasily Aleksanyan, a Yukos lawyer killed after being denied medical treatment in pre-trial detention, and was passed during the week marking the first anniversary of his death. It also mentioned the two-year prison sentence handed down to three members of the Pussy Riot group, widely perceived as patently disproportionate, the systematic non-authorisation of peaceful demonstrations and the use of disproportionate force to disperse them, and the situation in the North Caucasus.
PACE monitoring committee recommended that future monitoring of Russia should be carried out by the Committee of Ministers (i.e. intergovernmental), the highest authority in the Council of Europe. This was heavily resisted by the Russian members, and indeed this appears to be the reason the Chairman of the State Duma, Sergey Naryshkin avoided coming to Strasbourg this week. The recommendation needed a two-thirds majority to pass. It was approved 121-74-11, so support was insufficient for its adoption. Nevertheless it raises important issues about Russia’s ongoing monitoring.
The video of the report co-author Gyorgy Frunda speaking during the PACE debate
(from 5.30 onwards he describes Mikhail Khodorkovsky as ‘a typical political prisoner)
